Sunday, 30 October 2016

This week has been very quiet on the hobby front but lots has been going on with the whole 'move' thing.

This is all I've managed on the Hobby front; I cast a copy of the first leg sculpt and put a Hearthguard together so that he can join Telion:

Click the Pic!

Nothing spectacular... just a standard trooper with one of the extra breastplates that are slightly different to the standard ones (just to make him look slightly different). Once I have sculpted the next set of legs, I'll get on with this squad again.

SO... the move... I have packed all of my hobby stuff up and here is around half of it:

Click the Pic!

This sort of highlights why there will be a lack of hobby for a few weeks. We move house a week Monday and then I will be flitting between Oxfordshire and Cornwall for a short time while I sort things out. When in Oxfordshire, I will have no internet and when I'm in Cornwall I will be busy... so basically, I am signing off from Inso's World for a few weeks until things are sorted out. HOPEFULLY, things will start getting back to normal by the end of November... but the hobby side of things will be taking a back seat until I am happy that the new house is watertight, safe and clean.

Sunday, 23 October 2016

This week my wife and I have been travelling. We went to Cornwall on Monday and had a few bits and bobs to sort out on Tuesday before picking up the keys to our new house. It had been a bit of a pain getting to that point (bloody solicitors) but we finally had the keys so we emptied out what rubbish was in the place, put up new curtains and light shades and changed the locks so that we were the only ones with keys.

Here is the view from our 'soon to be' bedroom:

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Then, I think everything hit us and we didn't really know what to do!

... but we were in Cornwall so we enjoyed the beach and nightlife while we thought about the enormity of everything and put a few ideas down on paper.

We travelled back on Friday after a whirlwind of a week and then it seemed like we weren't home... because we had left our home locked up and empty in Cornwall.

So... big times ahead and that means that this little blog may have to take a short break in order for me to get on with all of the moving preparations. We are aiming to move in a couple of weeks so I have a lot to get done in a short time...

... but in the meantime, I haven't forgotten my hobby and have managed to get a small character finished:

Click the Pic!

He is (effectively) the leader of all the Hearthguard (space marine scout) units in the army and will count as Sgt Telion. He still needs a camo cloak but I am tempted to give him 'optical camouflage' rather than an actual cloak... so it may just be a fully camouflaged paint scheme... I haven't decided yet.

So to recap, I have sculpted two pairs of legs for the Mantic torsos. I have now cast six of the second pair; five are standard troops and one is Sgt Telion. I have also cast five of the first pair of legs and now have the sixth pair being cast as we speak and that will make the second member of Telion's squad. Once that is done, I need to finish sculpting a further three pairs of legs and make six casts from each so that five of each will make a unit and the sixth will become part of Telion's squad. Simple.

Sunday, 16 October 2016

I'm not going to moan about sleep this week... I'll just cut to the chase... This week has mostly been about finalising a house purchase. We have finally got all of our money transferred and have had a lot of last minute stress due to the solicitors being somewhat reluctant to put any drive into our home purchase. That said, everything is in place to collect the keys this coming week... so that is extremely BIG news for us.

When there is stress all around, what better way to escape than to hide away in the hobby world for a while? Well that is exactly what I did and as a result I have managed to get the production line in gear for some press moulding, filling, assembly and a little bit of sculpting in order to finish the second batch of Hearthguard/Scouts for my Squat army. Here are the newly finished Hearthguard with their previous allies primed in the background:

Click the Pic!

The way I am going about these is as follows:

I need 6 Squads of 5 (which I have already purchased).

That means I need 5 different leg sculpts in order for each squad to have all different poses.

Each leg pose will need 6 casts (one for each squad).

If I build each batch as a squad (with one cast put to the side), when all the leg casts are done, I can swap the troops about to make sure all the legs in a squad are different.

The squad made with the additional legs that don't fit with each 'squad' of batched legs, will end up being formed into a Squad with Camo-cloaks, sniper rifles and a Squat version of Sgt Telion as the leader.

I am likely to have 3 missile launchers, 2 heavy bolters and in addition to the 2 Sgts with hammers, I will also have 3 with standard bolters (I will be putting bolters with missile launchers and hammers with heavy bolters).

The camo-cloaks may well be a paint scheme for digital camo rather than having actual cloaks.

So... now I have completed a batch for two leg sculpts and have the third leg sculpt on the corks, ready for more work. I still need to press mould one more pair of legs from each of the sculpts I have already done but I can do that slow time now (better to put my effort into sculpting the legs). I really like the way these are turning out and I am completely in love with the Mantic Steel Warrior plastics as they are perfect for my army needs (once they are suitably reduced in height). It would have been so nice if they had been the right height in the first place... but they aren't designed to be Squats, they are designed to be Forge Fathers.

This coming week is one of excitement and travels so I doubt very much if there will be any hobby news to share next Sunday... however, there will hopefully be some happy news about our new home!

Sunday, 9 October 2016

Yesterday, I put away my female veterans (who had sat there doing nothing for a week) and decided to start sculpting a second pair of legs for my Mantic Forge Father Steel Warriors (AKA my Squat scouts)... this prompted me to order another squad of them from Mantic (this also helps me to feel obligated to finish the next legs so they can be press-moulded for another five scouts).

The end plan is to have 6 squads of 5 Squat scouts (which I will have when my latest miniatures arrive). Each of the squads will have 5 different pairs of legs (so I have 4 more to sculpt... including the one that is WIP at the moment) so each pair I make, needs to be press-moulded 6 times.

Here's a reminder of the first legs and the five casts that I made:

Click the Pic!

Now, the observant amongst you will realise that I should have made six leg-casts instead of just five and also that this isn't a squad but is one member from each of five squads. HOWEVER, if I put together little groups like this then I will have complete units even while I work towards the end goal (splitting them all up and having different 5 different style legs in each squad).

While I am sculpting, I am also press moulding more holstered pistols for the units so it is a proper production line (or will be when the next legs are ready for moulding).

In other news, I was priviledged to receive my kitten's very first present today. Yes, he isn't even six moths old and he brought me a bird. This would have been great if he hadn't brought it into the house and let it go so that it flew under the sofa. I managed to get the bird outside and it flew off... but not long after, it was dead on the paitio with a rather thrilled Sam throwing it around. We have a little hunter alright!

I am currently in the process of a bit of decorating and I am putting up some wall paper. I have discovered that this is a horrible job and once it is done, I will plan never to do it again.

Sunday, 2 October 2016

Hello again and welcome to Inso's World on this wonderfully sunny Sunday afternoon.

This week has been one of time off work to aid moving preparateions, including a bit of decorating and lots of paperwork. It also saw the arrival of the contract for our new home so it has been a week of many things... not to mention, it was the 28th anniversary of me signing on the dotted line for Queen and Country.

Add to that, the de-testiculation of my little kitty Sam and you would be right in thinking that not a lot of hobby stuff got done. Speaking of Sam:

This little video is Sam having just returned from the vets. As you can see, he has certainly got bigger since his arrival. He didn't seem too bothered about his little operation but he has been a bit dopey today so I think it is all catching up with him a bit.

In other news, I have been packing a lot of stuff away and have decided that the only stuff I am going to leave out for now, is my sculpting stuff and Squat army (so that I have something to tinker with). That means I have now packed up all of my armies, my paints and am in the process of packing up all of my other hobby stuff. Fortunately, I am packing things where they fit rather than in an organised fashion so when it all gets to the other end, I will have to sort everything out... which will force me to thin down again, I reckon.

So... what have I done (hobbywise) this week? Apart from packing, I have been sculpting the final details on my five remaining Tyranid Hunter Squats. I have finished two, have nearly finished a third and only have the faces to go on the last two. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show off so here are the five that have already been finished to remiind you of what the unit looks like:

Click the Pic!

The five that I am working on are just the basic riflemen so when they are done, I'll show the unit off as a whole.

Other things that have occupied my mind are Genestealer Cults. The stuff that GW is puttying out for the cults is really cool... especially the Goliath trucks. Well worth a look.

I have also been thinking about Transport options for my Squats and that just means that all of the plans I have for transport are up in the air because I am really not sure what to do... however, I have been looking at tank hulls and I reckon that either the German Panther hull or the M18 Hellcat hull would make rather nice starting points for an armoured personnel carrier. I have also been thinking about land trains, super heavy transports like the Stormlord and what the Squats might use as heavy support.

Grymn aircraft have also been on my mind and I hope that, one day, I can finally come up with something that I am happy with. I really would like to have a Grymn fighter wing and in order to do that, I need to have aircraft.